Unusual coexistence: branchial cleft cyst harboring papillary thyroid carcinoma with lymph node metastasis - a rare case report and clinical insights.

Background: The simultaneous occurrence of Branchial Cleft Cyst (BCC) and Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma (PTC) represents an unusual malignant tumor, with cases featuring associated lymph node metastasis being particularly rare. This combination underscores an increased potential for metastasis, and the assessment of neck masses, particularly on the lateral aspect, may inadvertently overlook the scrutiny of the thyroid. Therefore, healthcare providers should exercise vigilance, especially in patients over the age of 40, regarding the potential for neck masses to signify metastasis from thyroid malignancies. Currently, surgical intervention stands as the primary effective curative method, while the postoperative administration of radioactive iodine therapy remains a topic of ongoing debate. Case report: In the presented case, a 48-year-old male patient with a right neck mass underwent surgical intervention. The procedure included the excision of the right neck mass, unilateral thyroidectomy with isthmus resection, and functional neck lymph node dissection under tracheal intubation and general anesthesia. Postoperative pathology findings revealed the coexistence of a BCC with metastatic PTC in the right neck mass, as well as papillary carcinoma in the right thyroid lobe. Lymph node metastasis was observed in the central and levels III of the right neck. Conclusion: The rare amalgamation of a BCC with PTC and concurrent lymph node metastasis underscores the invasive nature of this malignancy. Healthcare professionals should be well-acquainted with its clinical presentation, pathological characteristics, and diagnostic criteria. A multidisciplinary approach is strongly recommended to enhance patient outcomes.

The feasibility and clinical significance of lateral approach thyroidectomy.

BACKGROUND: By comparing the three lateral approaches to thyroidectomy, the feasibility and clinical effects were analyzed, and the advantages of the lateral approach were summarized. METHODS: From January 2022 to January 2023, 52 patients with thyroid cancer admitted to our department were selected and subjected to Lateral approach for thyroidectomy. Among them, 31 patients underwent thyroidectomy via the supraclavicular approach, 13 patients underwent endoscopic thyroidectomy via the subclavicular approach, and 8 patients underwent endoscopic thyroidectomy via the axillary approach. The basic conditions, surgical conditions, complications, postoperative pain scores and postoperative satisfaction of patients in the three approach surgery groups were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: There were no significant differences among the three approach groups in terms of patient characteristics, number of central lymph node dissections, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative drainage volume, duration of drainage tube placement, length of hospital stay, postoperative pain, satisfaction, and complications. However, the operation time was longest in the subclavicular approach group, followed by the axillary approach group, and shortest in the supraclavicular approach group. The total hospitalization cost was highest in the axillary approach group, followed by the subclavicular approach group, and lowest in the supraclavicular approach group. CONCLUSION: The lateral approach for thyroidectomy is deemed a safe and effective method. The three different approach paths gradually increase in length, allowing for the accumulation of anatomical experience. This approach has a shorter learning curve for clinical doctors and is a favorable choice for patients seeking aesthetic benefits.

Angiosarcoma of the breast: A review.

Breast angiosarcoma is a rare and highly aggressive malignancy with a poor prognosis. It can occur spontaneously or be associated with factors such as radiation therapy or chronic lymphedema. The etiology and pathogenesis of this disease are still unclear, the clinical symptoms and imaging findings lack specificity, and the pathological morphology is diverse, which is easy to be confused with other diseases. There is no clear guideline for surgical treatment. Although the optimal surgical approach remains unclear, the ultimate goal is surgical excision with optimal margins, which remains the primary method of treatment. In clinical practice, the choice of the surgical approach should be made by considering the tumor size, pathological type, and patient preferences. In clinical practice, the selection of surgical methods should be carried out with comprehensive consideration of tumor size, pathological types and patients' wishes. There is no clear consensus on whether radiotherapy and chemotherapy should be carried out after surgery, and its optimal program and efficacy are uncertain. This article reviews the etiology, clinical manifestations, pathological features, imaging findings, treatment, prognosis and other aspects of breast angiosarcoma, so as to strengthen clinicians' overall understanding of this disease and avoid missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis.

Low-Grade Ductal Carcinoma in situ Within a Fibroadenoma of the Breast: A Rare Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Background: Ductal carcinoma in situ within a breast fibroadenoma is a rare malignancy with an incidence of only 0.02-0.125%. Imaging of low-grade ductal carcinoma in situ within a breast fibroadenoma shows no specific presentation. Therefore, pathology and immunohistochemistry are required for definitive diagnosis. Surgery is currently considered to be an effective treatment. There is no uniform clinical standard for postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy. Case Summary: A 60-year-old female patient underwent excisional biopsy on October 19, 2022. Pathology and immunohistochemistry confirmed the diagnosis of low-grade ductal carcinoma in situ within the fibroadenoma. Subsequently, breast-conserving surgery and sentinel lymph node biopsy were performed under general anesthesia with tracheal intubation, and no cancer metastasis was observed in the sentinel lymph nodes or incisional margins. Conclusion: Low-grade ductal carcinoma in situ within a breast fibroadenoma is an extremely rare malignancy, and clinicians should be familiar with its clinicopathological features and treatment methods. Multidisciplinary joint treatment is recommended to maximize the benefits to patients.

Angiosarcoma of the breast with hypofibrinogenemia: A rare case report and review of the literature.

Background: Breast angiosarcoma is a rare malignant tumor, accounting for approximately 0.04% of all breast malignancies. Angiosarcoma of the breast with hypofibrinogenemia is even rarer and has not been described in man. Breast angiosarcoma is associated with high metastatic potential and poor prognosis, and there is no specific manifestation in imaging. At present, surgery is considered to be the only effective treatment. There is no unified standard for postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Case Presentation: A 30-year-old female patient underwent left breast mass resection under local anesthesia on May 22, 2014. Postoperative pathology showed a vasogenic tumor. On November 10, 2017, she visited us again due to left breast swelling and pain during lactation, and underwent breast mass puncture. She was diagnosed with breast hematoma and fibrinogen reduction. On November 14, 2017, mastectomy was performed under tracheal intubation and general anesthesia, and the fibrinogen gradually returned to normal after surgery. Pathological examination showed a hemangiosarcoma with hematoma formation in the left breast. According to the pathological findings and after comprehensive evaluation, the patient underwent modified radical mastectomy for left breast cancer and right axillary sentinel lymph node biopsy on December 5, 2017. The patient died on January 28, 2018 due to rupture and hemorrhage of liver cancer and hemorrhagic shock. Conclusion: Breast angiosarcoma with hypofibrinogenemia is a rare and highly aggressive malignancy. Clinicians should be familiar with its clinicopathological features and diagnostic criteria. Multidisciplinary approach is recommended to benefit the patients.

Topical 5-aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy for intra anal-rectal warts.

Background: Condylomata acuminata (CA) are a common sexually transmitted disease. The recurrence rate of condyloma acuminatum using traditional treatments is higher than that of applying photodynamic therapy, and a variety of adverse reactions after treatment. At the same time, different parts of condyloma acuminatum after treatment recurrence rate is also different, especially for intra anal-rectal warts.Objective: To evaluate whether using photodynamic therapy (PDT) can effectively reduce recurrence of condylomata acuminata for intra anal-rectal warts.Methods: After the confirmation of the diagnosis of intra anal-rectal warts, the patients were treated with PDT with 5-aminolevulinic acid hydrochloride (ALA). PDT was performed with irradiation of 18-36 J/cm2 at an irradiance of 20-40 mW/cm2 with light-emitting diode (LED) light energy, wavelength 635 nm. We used a special PDT light equipment for intra anal-rectal area warts. PDT was repeated once every week for 4 weeks.Results: After PDT, the complete clearance rate was 76.1% (35 of 46 patients). At the end of the 12 weeks followed, recurrence occurred in five cases. We recorded pain in all 46 patients and the average visual analog scale (VAS) pain score was 6.96 ± 1.41 points.Conclusion: The treatment with PDT is effective in reducing the high rate of recurrence for intra anal-rectal warts. Pain is still a great challenge for the therapy.

The distribution and time-dependent expression of HIPK2 during the repair of contused skeletal muscle in mice.

HIPK2 is an evolutionarily conserved serine/threonine kinase and is considered a co-regulator of an increasing number of transcription factors modulating a variety of cellular processes, including inflammation, proliferation and fibrosis. Skeletal muscle injuries repair is an overlapping event between inflammation and tissue repair. There are no reports about HIPK2 expression in skeletal muscles after trauma. A foundational study on distribution and time-dependent expression of HIPK2 was performed by immunohistochemical staining, Western blotting and quantitative real-time PCR, which is expected to obtain a preliminary insight into the functions of HIPK2 during the repair of contused skeletal muscle in mice. An animal model of skeletal muscle contusion was established in 50 C57B6/L male mice. Samples were taken at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 14, 17, 21 and 28 days after contusion, respectively (5 mice at each posttraumatic interval). 5 mice were employed as control. No HIPK2-positive staining was detected in uninjured skeletal muscle. Intensive immunoreactivties of HIPK2 were observed in polymorphonuclear cells, round-shaped mononuclear cells, regenerated multinucleated myotubes and spindle-shaped fibroblastic cells in the contused tissue. The HIPK2-positive cells were identified as neutrophils, macrophages and myofibroblasts by double immunofluorescent procedure. HIPK2 protein and mRNA expression were remarkably up-regulated after contusion by Western blotting and qPCR analysis. The results demonstrated that the expression of HIPK2 is distributed in certain cell types and is time-dependently expressed in skeletal muscle after contusion, which suggested that HIPK2 may participate in the whole process of skeletal muscle wound healing, including inflammatory response, muscle regeneration and fibrogenesis.

The chemotactic interaction between CCL21 and its receptor, CCR7, facilitates the progression of pancreatic cancer via induction of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis.

BACKGROUND: In this study, we report the influence of CCL21 and its receptor, CCR7, on the progression of pancreatic cancer and illuminates the correlation between the CCL21/CCR7 axis and the angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC). METHODS: A total of 30 patients with pancreatic cancer was involved in the current study. The expression of CCL21 and CCR7 in cancerous tissues, paracancerous tissues and normal pancreas were investigated using real-time PCR, Western blot and immunohistochemistry, respectively. In addition, we assessed microvessel density (MVD) and microlymphatic vessel density (MLVD) in tumor tissues using immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Compared to paracancerous tissues and normal pancreas, CCL21 expression in cancerous tissues was detected at a significantly low level. In contrast, the CCR7 expression was considerably higher in cancerous tissues than in normal pancreas and paracancerous tissues. Additionally, a significant correlation between the expression pattern of the CCL21/CCR7 axis and clinicopathological features, such as lymph node metastasis, was identified. Furthermore, we found that CCL21 expression was significantly associated with MVD but not significantly associated with MLVD, while CCR7 expression was significantly associated with MLVD but not significantly associated with MVD. CONCLUSIONS: The chemotactic interaction between CCR7 and its ligand, CCL21, may be a critical event during progression in pancreatic cancer, and its underlying mechanism may be induction of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis regulated by this chemotactic interaction.

Mechanisms of TRAIL and gemcitabine induction of pancreatic cancer cell apoptosis.

The aim of this study was to investigate induction of apoptosis by the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and gemcitabine in the pancreatic cancer cell line SW1990. The sensitivity of SW1990 cells to TRAIL and/or gemcitabine-induced apoptosis and the rate of apoptosis were assessed by MTT assay and flow cytometry, respectively. We used Hoechst 33342 staining to observe apoptotic morphology and expression levels of proteins were analyzed by Western blottin. Growth inhibition and apoptosis rates on treatment with the combination of TRAIL and gemcitabine were significantly higher than with each drug alone (p<0.05). Pancreatic cancer cells exhibited a typical apoptosis morphology after treatment with TRAIL or gemcitabine. The levels of cellular apoptosis-associated proteins such as Smac/DIABLO, Cyto C, and the activated fragment of caspase-3 (P17) increased, but the expression of XIAP was significantly decreased after 24 h (p<0.05). SW1990 cells responded to TRAIL and/or gemcitabine-induction of apoptosis in a time and concentration-dependent manner. The mechanism of the apoptosis-sensitization effect appeared associated with significant up-regulation of Smac/DIABLO and cytochrome C, down-regulation of XIAP, and activation of caspase-3.

[Quantitative analysis and significance of CXCL12 and CXCR4 expression with lymphangiogenesis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of CXCL12, its receptor CXCR4 and its correlations with clinical pathology and lymphangiogenesis in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC). METHODS: The tissue samples were obtained from 30 patients with PAC by surgery between January 2005 and December 2007, which including PAC, the cancerous peripheral tissues, the normal pancreatic tissues and peripheral lymph nodes. The patients age ranged from 35 to 78 years old (median 57.2 years old). The expressions of CXCL12 and CXCR4 in these tissues were assayed by immunohistochemical staining, RT-PCR and fluorescence quantitative real-time PCR. RESULTS: In the immunohistochemical staining, the CXCL12 protein mainly located in the normal pancreatic cell envelopes and/or cytolymphs. In the immunohistochemical staining, the CXCR4 protein mainly located in the cell envelopes and/or cytolymphs of PAC. The results of RT-PCR and fluorescence quantitative real-time PCR indicated that the expression levels of CXCR4 mRNA in PAC tissues, the cancerous peripheral tissues and peripheral lympho nodes were higher than that in the normal pancreatic tissues (P < 0.01). The MLVD in PAC were detected by morphometric analysis respectively. The level of MLVD in III-IV stages was higher than I-II stages of PAC (P < 0.01), and in these cases which had lymphatic metastasis, the level of MLVD significantly increased (P < 0.01). And there was no correlation between the differentiation and histology types of PAC (P > 0.05). There was 22 samples that the CXCR4 protein was positive, and among these samples the MLVD was higher than that in negative group of CXCR4 protein (P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: The expression of CXCR4 was significantly associated with lymphatic metastasis of PAC, and the higher expression of CXCR4 in PAC tissues was significantly associated with lymphangiogenesis of PAC.

Effect of 5-LOX/COX-2 common inhibitor DHDMBF30 on pancreatic cancer cell Capan2.

AIM: To study the effect of 5-lipoxygenase/cyclooxygenase-2 (5-LOX/COX-2) dual inhibitor 7-tert-butyl-2, 3-dihydro-3, 3-dimethyl substituted dihydrofuran 30 (DHDMBF30) on proliferation and apoptosis of the pancreatic cancer cell line Capan-2 and the effect of DHDMBF30 on human pancreatic cancer in a nude mouse model. METHODS: Investigate the effect of 5-LOX/COX-2 dual inhibitor DHDMBF30 on proliferation and apoptosis of the pancreatic cancer cell line Capan-2 by RT-PCR, MTT assay, FCM and electron microscope. Cell line Capan-2 was inoculated percutaneously on the outer thigh of 12 nude mice. The VEGF mRNA of transplantation tumor was detected by RT-PCR. RESULTS: DHDMBF30 inhibits the proliferation of cell line Capan2, reduces the expression of 5-LOX, COX-2 and VEGF. After Capan2 was treated with DHDMBF30, we found that the apoptosis peak of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the contrast group (3.08 +/- 1.89 vs 27.67 +/- 0.52, P < 0.001). The tumor weight of the DHDMBF30 group was significantly lower than PBS control groups (1.35 +/- 0.47 vs 2.92 +/- 0.73, P < 0.01). Expression of VEGF in the DHDMBF30 group was significantly decreased. CONCLUSION: DHDMBF30 inhibits the proliferation of the pancreatic cell line Capan2, and induces apoptosis and inhibits the growth of pancreatic cancer in nude mice.